Introducing Bluchic Customer Spotlight, a series of posts featuring our customers who share the amazing stories behind their business and the gorgeous website they’ve built with Bluchic themes.

In today’s Bluchic Customer Spotlight, we’re happy to introduce you to Katherine Mackenzie-Smith, a life and business coach for Introverts. Read on to learn more about Katherine’s inspiring story and how she uses our Jacqueline WordPress Theme for her website. Enjoy!

Q: What ignited the spark in you to start your business?
I first started blogging years ago while I was working in a fast-paced television career that left me feeling constantly drained and unfulfilled. What started as a creative side project, quickly became a passion and the coaching evolved out of that. I realized that I’d been hiding my introverted nature from the world and as soon as I owned that, I hit on the core of my passion and purpose.

Q: What does a typical day in your life look like?
I get up and read, stretch, or meditate – depending on what I need. I really need to ease into the day, and spend the early morning mostly in silence to energize for the day. Then I have breakfast and get any urgent emails or plans out of the way, I might have a morning client, or meet a friend for coffee, then the afternoon will be clients or working on creative projects, before making dinner and spending the evening with my man.

Q: What’s been your biggest challenge so far and how did you overcome it?
It was me, getting in my own way, a challenge I think many people face, but introverts definitely have a tendency to overthink everything and talk ourselves out of it before we even get going. So much ‘stuff’ comes up when you start a business, and for me, the fear of being seen and the fear of NOT being seen were equally stressing me out. Overcoming it came with baby steps, just doing one little thing each day to keep moving forward. That allows for slow, but steady growth without the shock to the system.

Q: What’s one thing you wish you knew before you started your business?
That we spend so much time looking at the people we perceive as ahead or in front of us, that we forget about all the people behind us who are looking for the help that we can provide them. If I’d known this, I would have focused so much more on how I could provide value and best serve people who needed me, instead of spending so much time worrying about ‘what everyone else was doing’.

Q: What business tools or resources have helped you or inspired you?
Books. All the books! I’m an avid reader and so many have helped me exactly when I needed them. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Quiet by Susan Cain, Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I could go on and on.

I use a paper planner because I love stationery, but also Google Calendar and Google Docs are excellent. An online accounting system is golden, and Canva and Photoshop have been life savers for me.

Q: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Own your awesome, friend. You might think that no matter what business you have started, there are already so many people doing it. Guess what? There are. But no one is going to do it the way YOU will. Remember that because that’s what will set you apart. Find your true voice, your core message, and why you started doing this – because business is a roller coaster and some days you’ll need that ‘why’ to remind you to keep going.

Q: What’s in store for your business in 2016?
An eCourse (or two), heaps of free stuff, and a premium version of my community, The League of Extraordinary Introvert. Plus a few collaborations and some in-person events. Ohhh it’s going to be a big one, I can’t wait!

Q: What made you choose your current Bluchic Theme for your website?Jacqueline theme was simple and stylish and when I bought it, there weren’t any other templates around that had a built in opt-in box. I just like that it’s functional and easy to navigate, but it looks clean.

Q: What are some of your favorite features in Jacqueline Theme?
At the moment, it’s the image gallery. I just added it to my contact page for when people need an image and it was so easy to put together. It’s great.

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